UPSC Darpan

Agriculture & FoodGS313 October 2026

Karnataka declares 217 of 240 taluks drought-hit and seeks ₹11,000 crore from the NDRF

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The news

Bengaluru and New Delhi. Karnataka, after a rainfall deficit of close to 35% in June–September, has declared 217 of its 240 taluks drought-hit, with extensive damage to red gram, maize, cotton and sugarcane, and has petitioned the Centre for ₹11,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) plus higher input subsidies, per The Hindu’s editorial of October 13. The summer monsoon had its poorest showing since 2015. The editorial urged release once the Inter-Ministerial Central Team’s findings are publicly verified. The scarcity reached the Supreme Court on Monday, October 12: Tamil Nadu said Karnataka owed it 11.719 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of Cauvery water at Biligundlu up to October 6. A Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath reserved its order, observing: “A backlog can be covered only when there is excess water.”

The chain in one line: Weakest monsoon since 2015 → 35% deficit in Karnataka → 217 of 240 taluks drought-hit → ₹11,000 crore sought from NDRF → wait for IMCT and High Level Committee → less Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu

Static syllabus linkage

  1. The Disaster Management Act, 2005 creates both funds. Section 46 creates the National Disaster Response Fund and Section 48 obliges each State to create a State Disaster Response Fund. The Finance Commission fixes SDRF allocations; the Centre pays 75% (90% for North-Eastern and Himalayan States), a ratio the Sixteenth Finance Commission (2026-31) kept. In Swaraj Abhiyan v Union of India (2016) the Supreme Court ordered the drought manual updated.
  2. The Cauvery is shared under a 2018 judgment and an Authority. Under Article 262 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, tribunals decide river disputes. The Supreme Court modified the Cauvery Tribunal’s 2007 award in February 2018, cutting Karnataka’s release at Biligundlu from 192 to 177.25 tmc ft in a normal year and directing the Centre to frame a scheme; the Cauvery Water Management Authority, set up under it in 2018, enforces the releases.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. Does India’s drought relief reach farmers in time, and who decides how much?. GS3 lists “Disaster and disaster management” and GS2 “Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure”. Expect three dimensions: declaration, Centre–State relief finance, and water-sharing in scarcity.

Prelims nuggets

  • The NDRF is constituted under Section 46 and the SDRF under Section 48 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
  • Drought is declared by the State government, using the Centre’s Manual for Drought Management.
  • The Cauvery Water Management Authority was set up in 2018 following the Supreme Court’s February 2018 Cauvery judgment.

Analysis

  1. Lens — Federalism: States read the NDRF as a right, the Centre as a reserve, and the delay lives in between. To a State, the NDRF is money held for exactly this; to the Centre, it is a national reserve that must treat every State alike, hence norms and an IMCT visit. Each step is sensible, and the Drought Manual even sets timelines (an IMCT within a week, a Central decision within a month of its report), but nothing follows when they slip. In 2024 Karnataka went to the Supreme Court before the Centre released ₹3,454 crore against a demand of over ₹18,000 crore. The Centre’s best answer: declarations were once “sometimes exaggerated to maximise state support” (The Hindu), and 217 of 240 taluks is nine in ten. Checking is fair; checking on a clock nobody enforces is not.
  2. Lens — Equity: relief by land record misses the people who lose most. Input subsidy is paid per hectare to the owner on record, for losses above a threshold. A tenant who borrowed to sow red gram on leased land is often outside it, and so is the farm labourer who loses wages. The Hindu’s editorial asks the States to extend relief “beyond land ownership” and to ease indebtedness. The other view is administrative: land records are the only verifiable list, and cash to unrecorded tenants invites fraud. That argues for registering tenancies, not for leaving tenants out.
  3. Scarcity turns sharing into conflict, and drinking water wins. In a drought the Cauvery dispute is about water that does not exist. Karnataka says it needs about 45 of its 57 tmc ft for drinking water; Tamil Nadu says its Samba crop is starved of 11.719 tmc ft. The Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment had already put drinking water first. Tamil Nadu’s counter, through Mukul Rohatgi, is sound in principle: “In a distress year… there has to be a proportionate reduction”, not one State bearing it all. A transparent distress formula is fairer than a backlog fight.

Possible Mains question

Examine how far India’s drought-relief framework delivers timely help to farmers, with reference to Karnataka’s 2026 request for NDRF assistance. (15 marks, 250 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Examine. Probe how the system works and where it fails; end with a verdict.
  2. Introduction — a severe drought meets a slow process. Sample: After a near-35% rainfall deficit, Karnataka has declared 217 of 240 taluks drought-hit and sought ₹11,000 crore from the NDRF, testing India’s relief framework.
  3. Body — declaration is now evidence-based and verifiable. Indicators plus ground-truthing; cite Swaraj Abhiyan (2016).
  4. Body — the two-tier funding is sound but slow. Draw a flowchart: declaration → SDRF → memorandum → IMCT → High Level Committee → NDRF release, marking the waits. Karnataka 2024: ₹3,454 crore after a court case.
  5. Body — norms reach owners, not tenants or labourers. Per-hectare input subsidy tied to land records; tenants and wage losses fall outside.
  6. Body — scarcity spills into inter-State water conflict. Cauvery: 11.719 tmc ft claimed against Karnataka’s drinking-water needs.
  7. Conclusion — a deadline at the Centre, a tenant register in the States. Sample: The Union Home Ministry should decide NDRF claims within the Manual’s own timelines and Karnataka should pay those who actually farm, because relief that misses the sowing is no relief.

Administrator's brainstorm

As Deputy Commissioner of a drought-declared taluk, what do you do in the first 30 days, before any NDRF money arrives?

I can wait for the NDRF or act with what the district has. Waiting costs drinking water and the rabi season, so I act. First, drinking water: tankers and borewell repairs from the SDRF and village-wise water plans. Second, more MGNREGA works so labourers need not migrate, and fodder banks for cattle. Third, a crop-loss survey with geotagged photographs, including tenants and sharecroppers, so the State’s memorandum stands up before the IMCT. The stakeholders are small farmers, tenants, labourers and cattle owners. The deciding principle is that the first rupee goes to the most urgent need, not the most visible one.